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Westin Keirland Resort and Spa
You can plan your summer vacation down to the dollar, but when it comes time to check out of your so-called budget-friendly hotel, hidden hotel fees can quickly put you in the red. Here’s how to find out about these fees ahead of time, or avoid them altogether.
Hotels, like airlines, are starting to nickel-and-dime their customers with various fees designed to make up for lost room revenue. Guests in many hotels can expect to be charged upwards of $12 a day for in-room internet use, $20 or more per day to use the hotel gym, $15 or more per day to park in the hotel’s garage, $45 for rush laundry service, $30 for a second bed, $5 an hour to hold your bags behind the front desk, and fees of up to 18% of your total room service bill for food delivery of menu items that are already priced higher than on the regular restaurant menu.
So what’s a budget traveler to do?
Plan ahead. Know exactly what you are being quoted for when given a room rate. Every property is different, even within the same chain, so looking at the main website for the Westin, for example, won’t necessarily give you an accurate description of what additional fees you’ll pay at a specific Westin property -- like the one in Scottsdale, for example. Call the very hotel you’re interested in and ask for a complete listing of all surcharges, in addition to their best room rate.
Many third-party internet booking services are now breaking down surcharges, too. For example, Tripadvisor.com lists additional fees incurred at a property in addition to their advertised room rate.
If you are not using a service for which you’re being billed, ask the front desk to remove it from your bill. Charges for safes, the business center, gym usage and gratuities are often based on the practice of “negative option billing” -- meaning they assume you’ve used the services even if you have not. Read over your bill carefully before checkout and ask for fees for any services you have not used to be removed.
Know what your room rate includes. You may have booked a special rate that includes certain fees, like internet and fitness center use. If you don’t need those things, look into a different rate that might be lower. If you do, make sure you’re not charged twice for them -- once within your room rate, once additionally.
Ask about fees at every turn. Is the juice being poured by the waiter at the “free” breakfast buffet actually free, or is that an additional fee? What about the gratuity charge? Is there a towel fee at the pool? An additional charge if you bring a pool towel back to your room? A fee to borrow a phone charger? To clear out the mini-bar before you get to the room? Educate yourself and save.
If you can’t avoid the fees, find out what exactly they include. The $25 per night resort fee at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa includes unlimited local phone calls, high-speed internet access, use of the fitness center and putting green, daily newspaper and a shuttle to the Biltmore Fashion Square shopping center. If you plan on utilizing those features, the resort fee might be more of a deal than if you had to pay for them individually.
And finally, use the fees as a bargaining chip if the room or service you receive are sub par. If something goes wrong with your room, or you feel you’ve been treated poorly by staff, ask to speak to the manager and politely make your case. In addition to a new room, ask for the resort fee, gym fee or internet fee to be waived.
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